Promoting a Sense of community. Greenleaf lamented the loss of community
in modern society, calling it “the lost knowledge of these times” (1970, p. 28).
Servant-leadership questions the institution’s ability to provide human services, and
argues that only community, defined as groups of individuals that are jointly liable
for each other both individually and as a unit, can perform this function. Only by
establishing this sense of community among followers can an organization succeed
in its objectives. Further, the theory posits that this sense of community can arise
only from the actions of individual servant-leaders (Greenleaf, 1970, p. 30).